Hot breath blasted against my back.
My smirk vanished. Every muscle in my body locked up.
Oh, you've got to be kidding me.
Slowly—too damn slowly—I turned my head.
And there it was.
There's no doubt, this is Cragg The Cage Demon.
Tall. Hulking. Its body looked like it had been stitched together from rusted metal and shadows. Jagged spikes jutted from its spine, and its arms ended in curved, butcher-knife claws. But worst of all? Its face—or lack of one. Just a gaping, tooth-filled hole where a mouth should be, and two hollow pits burning with a sickly green glow.
It didn't move. It didn't attack.
It just… stared.
Like I was already dead.
{ WARNING: CAGE DEMON DETECTED }
The screen pop up again on its own.
{ THREAT LEVEL: LOW (but still very much capable of killing you) }
{ RECOMMENDED ACTION: DON'T DIE }
Wow. Thanks, Screen. Real helpful.
I swallowed hard. My stats were garbage—barely any strength, barely any speed. But hey, at least my intelligence was halfway decent. Too bad brains don't mean much when a demon is sizing you up for a coffin.
The Cage Demon tilted its head. A low, grinding noise came from its throat—like metal scraping against bone.
Was it… laughing at me?
"Pathetic."
Its voice was a nightmare—a wet, guttural growl that slithered into my ears.
I clenched my fists. Okay. Okay. Think. What do I have?
- Speed? Barely.
- Strength? Pitiful.
- Reflexes? Might as well be a statue.
- Intelligence? My only damn advantage.
I forced a grin. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. I'm weak. But let's be real—you're stuck in a cage for a reason. Who's the real loser here?"
The demon's hollow eyes flared.
Oh. I pissed it off.
It moved faster than I thought possible.
One second, it was standing there. The next—WHOOSH—its claw slashed toward my face.
I barely ducked. The air above my head ripped as its talons passed through where my skull had been.
Too close.
I rolled to the side, heart hammering. My reflexes were trash, but my brain was working overtime.
Patterns. Look for patterns.
The demon lunged again, swinging its claws in wide, brutal arcs. I dodged—barely—but one grazed my arm.
{ INJURY: DEEP LACERATION - LEFT ARM }
{ BLEEDING DETECTED }
{ DURABILITY DECREASING }
Yeah, no kidding!
Blood dripped onto the stone floor. The Cage Demon sniffed the air, its mouth-hole twisting into something like a smile.
"Fear. Delicious."
I spat on the ground. "You want fear? How about this?"
I charged.
Stupid? Absolutely. But surprise was my only weapon.
I feinted left, then dove right, aiming a punch at its ribs.
{ STRENGTH: 10% }
My fist connected—CLANG—like hitting a steel door. Pain shot up my arm. The demon didn't even flinch.
Instead, it backhanded me.
{ IMPACT DETECTED }
{ DAMAGE: TWO RIBS FRACTURED }
{ WARNING: ENERGY LEVELS DROPPING }
I hit the ground hard, gasping. Every breath felt like knives in my chest.
The Cage Demon loomed over me, its claws twitching.
This is bad. This is really, really bad.
I needed an edge. Fast.
My eyes darted around the chamber—cages, torches, chains.
Chains.
The demon raised its claw for the killing blow—
I rolled, grabbed a loose chain from the ground, and yanked.
A rusted hook swung down from the ceiling, smashing into the demon's face.
{ CRITICAL HIT! }
The Cage Demon staggered, its hollow eyes flickering.
It worked?!
I didn't waste time. I scrambled up, ignoring the pain, and swung the chain like a whip.
CRACK!
The metal links wrapped around the demon's arm. It snarled, trying to pull free—
I yanked harder, using its own weight against it.
"You—insect!" it roared.
"Yeah, yeah. Call me whatever you want." I grinned through the pain. "But you're the one getting dragged around by a guy with 5% accuracy. How's that feel?"
The demon ripped the chain out of my hands—
But I was already moving.
I grabbed a torch from the wall.
Fire. Furry Demons hate fire, right?
The Cage Demon lunged.
I sidestepped—barely—and thrust the torch into its gaping mouth-hole.
{ WEAKNESS EXPLOITED }
{ DEMON SUSTAINED BURN DAMAGE }
The creature screeched, an ungodly sound that made my ears bleed. It thrashed, clawing at its face as flames licked its insides.
This was my chance.
I picked up a broken cage bar from the ground, sharp end forward.
No strength? Fine. But I've got one good stab left in me.
With everything I had, I drove the metal bar straight into the demon's chest.
{ FATAL STRIKE! }
The Cage Demon froze. Its green eyes dimmed.
Then—it exploded into black mist, dissolving into nothing leaving only a green glowing crysal.
I quicopicked the crystal before collapsing to my knees, coughing blood, then the screen pop up.
{ SYSTEM TASK COMPLETE }
{ REWARD: SYSTEM LEVELING POINTS (SLP) AWARDED 100 PLUS 10 PLUS 30 DAYS INCREASED LIFESPAN}
{ WARNING: MULTIPLE INJURIES DETECTED }
{ SEEK MEDICAL ATTENTION IMMEDIATELY (or just lie there and hope for the best) }
I let out a weak laugh.
Still alive. Barely.
The crystal in my hand now pulsed with a dull glow as the walls around me trembled violently. Sand rained from the ceiling, and deep cracks split the stone floor like spiderwebs.
Oh, come on! I just killed the damn thing—can't I get ONE peaceful exit?!
I didn't wait around to find out what fresh hell was coming. Clutching the crystal, I bolted for the exit, legs burning, ribs screaming with every step. The hallway shook like the whole place was about to collapse—or worse, swallow me alive.
The door was just ahead.
Almost there—
CRACK!
A chunk of the ceiling crashed down right in front of me, barely missing my head. I stumbled but kept moving, lungs on fire.
Screw this. Screw this. Screw Cragg. Screw everything!
With one final burst of speed (thank you, 15% SPEED), I dove through the doorway—
BOOM.
The second I cleared it, the entire structure imploded behind me, dissolving back into the sand like it had never existed.
I lay there, gasping, half-buried in dust wondering how to get the hell out of this desert.
…Did I just make it?
{ TASK COMPLETED SUCCESSFULLY }
{HIDDEN REWARDS CALCULATING… }
The familiar screen flickered in front of me, glowing against the empty desert.
{ CHOOSE YOUR REWARD: }
1. [NEW SKILL] (Randomly selected—could be game-changing or utterly useless!)
2. [+2 DAYS LIFESPAN] (Because who doesn't want to live a little bit longer?)
I wiped blood from my lip, staring at the options.
Huh. So I don't get to know what the skill is before picking? Typical.
I smirked. Well, I've never been the cautious type.
"New skill," I muttered, blinking to the text
{ ARE YOU SURE? }
{ WARNING: SKILLS CANNOT BE CHANGED ONCE SELECTED }
I blinked twice—yes, damn it!
The screen shimmered, letters rearranging themselves like some kind of twisted slot machine.
{ NEW SKILL ACQUIRED: [WATCHER] }
{ DESCRIPTION: … }
…
…
…Nothing.
I waited.
Still nothing.
"What the hell?" I growled. "Watcher? What does that even mean? Do I just stand around and watch monsters kill me now?!"
I kicked the sand in frustration. I should've taken the two extra days.
My lifespan was already a joke—30 days left, plus the 8 I'd earned earlier. That could've been 40 total. Forty whole days before I drop dead.
But no. I got… whatever this is, watcher shit.
{ UPGRADE OPTIONS AVAILABLE }
{ CURRENT SLP: 110 }
My mood lifted slightly. Wait—110? I did beat Cragg in under five minutes. That meant the bonus points kicked in.
Okay, maybe not a total loss.
I focused on the UPGRADE option, ready to dump everything into STRENGTH or SPEED—
"Oh, there you are."
A voice.
Sharp. Smooth. Dangerously sweet.
My blood turned to ice.
I knew that voice.
Slowly, too slowly, I turned.
And there she was....